The root of the plant is not unsightly to science, though
for chaplet and festoon we cut the stem short.

EMERSON

THE SPIRIT AND THE PURPOSE

As the fruition of this four years' effort has proven of very
practical value, and as its increase has been strong enough to
have withstood many temperatures, the process of its growth may
interest any one of that good legion in this country which has
toiled so steadfastly in the wide fields of war activity. Out
of the great number of Americans whose partisanship belonged inevitably
to France after those incredible days of September, 1914, there
were many, from East to West, who labored earnestly and with such
science as only determination teaches, for the building of this
Service in France. Even in the first days, when the effort was
still too near earth to give promise of any such fine branch as
it later bore, the mere appeal of sending our own men and our
own cars to work actually at the front as a living evidence of
sympathy --- and the possibility that we might so help even a
little in conserving life in the French Army --- sufficed to generate
the energy which finally carried us over the long road to completion.
Friendship spent to its best purpose is reflected clearly enough
in the story of our labor in France, but here, too, far in the
background, from first to last, were thousands of busy hands creating
the opportunity of which that record is the fulfilment. Many volumes
would not hold the list of generous deeds in the construction,
nor all the sum of fine desire to which this Service proved expression.
Those of us who saw the first giving, found in it the revelation
of something greater than any material contribution, and it is
doubtful if even the knowledge now of all the good achievement
can outweigh for us the value in the experience. Those who so
gave need no better recompense than that which they must find
in memory, and our only tribute can be the full acknowledgment
that without their spirit a great purpose would have been lost.

HENRY D. SLEEPER

Early in 1915, when the prospect of a long war had become obvious,
and when no gleam of any such help from this country as it ultimately
gave had lighted the horizon, there came forward, it is good to
remember, that creditable host of every age and rank whom neither
the barriers of politics nor distance could hold back from service.
Restless to offer practical expression of their understanding,
and of their respect for justice and great courage, they each
gave, according to such means as was possible --- in money generously
and constantly, or, where knowledge and education could serve,
they spoke and wrote the truth; but most of all, perhaps, those
who were fortunate enough to be able to give themselves, by going,
helped to light our country on its way, not so much by example
as by the vision many of them were able to send so clearly back
to their own people.

Among the first of these were a few young Americans whom chance
had found in Europe at the hour of invasion. Quick to take advantage
of their fortune, they offered every sort of service, and soon
most of them were detailed to drive such ambulances as could be
put together with the material available at the moment. During
the weeks that followed they labored day and night to probably
as useful and stimulating a purpose as they had ever known. Presently
their letters written home began to find their way into local
newspapers, and by their direct and intimate statement of conditions,
did much not only to arouse sympathy, but to formulate sound judgments
in communities which had previously shown only passive interest.
Later, when the time came for us to make a general campaign for
men and cars, every town where such early publicity had been given,
proved doubly ready to coöperate. Doubtless the writers of
these first letters felt their exploitation to be out of accord
with modesty --- or even a breach of confidence --- but they may
afford to condone a fault which had so profitable a result. In
response to their story came letters to our headquarters from
various parts of the country, in most instances from students
at college, expressing interest not only in joining the effort,
but in increasing it by organizing committees for recruiting and
for raising ambulances.

For those of us to whom a generous destiny had given the building
of the Service, this meant two vital things: first, that by the
very spontaneity and force of such means, properly utilized, a
wide response would surely be forthcoming and a large work of
conservation founded; second, and equally stimulating as a possibility,
that by thus enlisting the coöperation of young men from
universities throughout the country, a way would be opened of
establishing what might develop into a potent and active influence
for the Allied Cause, not through the ordinary channel of printed
or spoken propaganda, but by virtue of the daily contact which
these men would have with the French Army in action, where there
could be no foundation for any conviction but truth. We realized
in those first days, as now, after four years of constant and
intimate relation, does every member of this Service, that we
could wish our friends in France no surer talisman of support
than that all the world should know the truth of them.

MEANS OF FULFILMENT

WORTH while as such an intention undoubtedly was, the gulf
between desire and fulfilment soon became obvious. As the ambition,
beyond maintaining the service then existent, was to so increase
it as to be able to meet any possible need which the French Army
might express, a large monthly outlay was inevitable, beside the
raising of a sum sufficient for the purchase of cars, and all
other equipment. We had a good cause, an unusually sympathetic
means of operation, but at that time no affiliation in this country
on which we had a right to depend for any large or responsible
effort. A way of winning friendship, a competent organization,
and a considerable fund had therefore all to be achieved --- and
quickly. The first step, of course, was to interest a few individuals
to such an extent as might warrant making a general appeal. Although
our two first books, Friends of France, and Ambulance
No. 10, which were soon to prove of indispensable help, were
not published until some months later, we already had enough letters
and records of the days' work to guarantee its value and justify
monetary help. Foremost and most zealous in the inception of the
fund was Mr. Edward J. de Coppet, of New York. A man of distinguished
personality and character, he possessed a rarely generous sense
of responsibility toward those with whom a broad and successful
life had brought him in contact. Whatever his objective, whether
in furtherance of individual talent, of educational or philanthropic
purpose, or some civic interest, his coöperation was both
active and complete. Most widely known, perhaps, as founder of
the Flonzaley Quartette, and a patron of the best in the musical
life of New York, he was no less a factor in its business world,
as senior partner of de Coppet & Doremus. A generous guide
and cheering philosopher to a large and varied circle of friends,
he turned his influence and power fully toward our Service. From
the moment of our first interview, it was apparent that rather
than having to interest him in our behalf, we should have to strive
well to maintain the level of his ambition for us. After a kindly
but very thorough consideration of the practicability of the proposed
effort, he endorsed it by giving a number of ambulances, a thousand
dollars monthly toward maintenance, and in addition by setting
aside a sum to meet the immediate needs of organization. In a
letter of July, 1915, expressing his hope for our future, he explained
that in establishing this special fund, he trusted we might find
it not merely an incentive to maintain the sections then in the
field, but by publishing records of their days' work, and by speaking
in various parts of the country, that so wide an interest might
be aroused as to make possible sending to France many hundred
cars, and a greater number of students from American universities.
How accurate his foresight proved he was not destined to know,
for he died within the year; but that his hope was so much more
than fulfilled was in no small measure due to the spirit of his
giving. Many an obstacle was later overcome and many a trial won
in memory of our high obligation to him. All that he had intended
was made financially possible by the generosity of his son, Mr.
André de Coppet, and by the prompt and constant coöperation
thereafter of Mr. James J. Storrow, of Boston, who had duplicated
Mr. de Coppet's subscription, and had given us his own office
at Lee, Higginson & Co., for our American headquarters.

ROBERT BACON
Died May 29,1919

Notwithstanding the sound encouragement which two such benefactions
meant, we could not properly have succeeded in our larger intention
without the approval of several of the earliest and most interested
friends of the Service. Mr. Robert Bacon, as President of the
American Ambulance Hospital at Neuilly, under the auspices of
which we had hitherto operated, was one of the first sponsors
of the Field Service, and logically most deeply interested in
its successful increase. He not only expressed confidence in our
undertaking, but gave us the benefit of his offices and staff
in New York, became Treasurer of the Fund, and by wise counsel
and frequent coöperation during the next years, did much
in the making of our history. Upon Mrs. Bacon, as Chairman of
the American Committee of the Hospital, there devolved at this
time practically the whole burden of raising the larger part of
a million dollars annually to maintain that great institution.
In spite of the magnitude of this task, she found time to do many
a generous deed in our behalf, and by her advocacy of our cause,
established our identity through her committees in various parts
of the country, where we might have had no other affiliations.
To two other friends the Service owes perhaps as fine an obligation
as to any one. From the hour of our beginning until the demobilization
four years later, Mr. and Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt, by quick
endorsement of our whole purpose,-and loyal support through every
trial, were an unfailing stimulus to our energy. In reminiscence
of our early history in America, there comes ever a procession
of grateful memories of those who helped when we were surer of
our desire than of our capacity. Whether the need was for recruits,
or cars, or effort in some untried field, to each of them belongs
some word or deed indispensable unto the day. So large a part
of our structure were they that even to speak briefly of what
they did would claim too great a share in a story which justly
belongs to youth and its valiant fulfilment of the trust they
gave into its keeping.

RECRUITING THE
VOLUNTEERS

IN establishing the new ambulance sections, it was essential,
if the volunteer spirit were to be kept alive, not only that no
salaries be given, but that in every possible instance an applicant
should pay his own expenses. With the French Army the fact that
these Americans whom they saw in so many places, sharing the risks
and labor of their days, did so wholly by choice, and moreover
often spent their small savings for the privilege, established
the sort of friendship which no minor misunderstandings could
efface. Every member of the Service endorsed and respected this
regulation, but it occasionally proved a barrier to the enlistment
of men whose character and experience exactly fitted them for
the work. Particularly was this so during 1916 and 1917, when
the need for recruits was much greater. A small subsidiary fund
was therefore established for such cases, and in our subsequent
history appear many proofs that the benefit of money well spent
may be far out of proportion to its quantity. As the experience
of four years shows that practically half the wounded carried
were saved by the promptness with which our cars were generally
able to get them to postes de secours, and as an ambulance
often carried ten men a day, a driver who had been given the three
or four hundred dollars necessary to put him through his six months'
enlistment could afford some sense of satisfaction in having brought
back so worth-while a return on the investment of his benefactor.

Committees were soon formed to arouse
interest in the Service both as regards finances and recruiting,
in more than a hundred towns and cities throughout the United
States. A few of these in the Middle and Far West had permanent
recruiting officers, but the majority were temporary, to make
necessary arrangements for the illustrated lectures. These committees
were in nearly every case financially independent, raising their
own funds to recruit drivers or to donate ambulances, but sending,
through a local treasurer, upon fulfilment of their effort, the
net sum of contributions to the American Headquarters of the Service.
The only exception to this system was the Chicago office, which
was wholly independent, from first to last, of our American Headquarters,
financially and otherwise. Owing to the liberal contribution of
drivers and cars which that city and neighboring places and universities
had offered, it seemed best to establish a permanent committee
to control directly all the business and personal questions in
that part of the country. To Mr. Chauncey McCormick, and later
to Mr. Charles B. Pike, who succeeded him as Mid-Western Representative,
as well as to Mr. Charles L. Hutchinson, the Treasurer, and Mr.
Samuel Instill, Chairman of the Chicago Committee, the Service
owes one of the most vital and useful factors in its construction.
Recruiting committees were later organized in thirty-three of
the larger colleges and universities, consisting generally of
the President, members of the faculty, and representatives of
the leading elements in the student body. As these committees,
owing to the limited number of men we were able to provide for,
could choose only about forty per cent of the applicants, the
character of the personnel was of the first order.

In the journeys of our speakers through
various parts of America with the moving pictures which the French
Army had taken of our men on duty, the interest in and knowledge
of events in Europe varied much less than might have been expected.
Wherever there was little enthusiasm it seemed generally to have
been the result of even less first-hand information. Although
publicity and businesslike preparation for showing the pictures
naturally increased the size of our audiences, the proportionate
returns seem to have depended more on the sympathy and revelation
of the pictures themselves than on the size or type of audiences.

In the lecturer's daily report of a trip which included nearly
thirty of the larger cities and towns through the Middle West
and West, there appear two rather interesting pages illustrative
of this fact, written from different sections of the country,
and describing the result of showing the pictures before two audiences
of wholly different character. He writes the following from Cleveland:

I find that the utmost forethought and energy has been spent
here in regard to our pictures. The films were shown in the ballroom
of the Hotel Statler. Such prominence had been given to the event
through a continued campaign of publicity that practically all
of Cleveland society came together for it. Early in the evening
many dinners were given and every private dining-room in the
hotel was occupied. After the preliminary talk and pictures,
a ball took place. As entrance was by invitation, with a charge
of ten dollars, quite a sum had been thereby raised. The interest
shown in the first two reels was so keen that an earnest appeal
was then made for ambulances. Twelve were promptly contributed
in this interval, and four more later. Before the evening was
over, numerous others had been added, so that more than fifty
thousand dollars resulted. Within two days, this amount had risen
to eighty-seven thousand.

A week later there appears this entry, at Butte, Montana:

This is essentially a mining town, and with foreigners of
every description --- some of them whose mother countries were
of the Allies, but many whose antecedents were not so. We arrived
just before registration day, and as the authorities expected
trouble, saloons were closed, the militia in readiness, and the
crowds freely displaying the red flag. Our meeting was held in
a large theatre, and the place was jammed. I and several of the
committeemen, on the stage, were at first hissed. Most of this
disapproval seemed to come from the balconies. The authorities
had taken every precaution to avoid trouble, and there were plain-clothes
men stationed behind the scenery on the stage to protect us.
Antagonistic, or at best indifferent, as the audience had proved
itself, as the performance went on they became quiet. After the
pictures were shown, there was a strong appeal made. The result
was surprising. When the committee in charge counted the proceeds,
it was found that seven hundred dollars more had been given by
the miners in the balconies than by the representative citizens
in the orchestra, generous though the latter had been. That this
liberal response was forthcoming as the result of merely relating
our story, and in spite of preconceived prejudice, seems proof
that any war apathy that may exist in such towns as this in the
West is largely the result of lack of sympathetic information.

The final comment of this speaker is accurate enough as far
as it goes, but unfortunately we had evidence of something more
than lack of information. Misinformation and malice, both covert
and obvious, were daily acquaintances, sometimes from clubs or
organizations, and often from individuals --- all of Teuton sympathy.
During the first two years, when free expression of anti-Ally
opinion involved no penalty of ostracism, as it later did, we
met at least some spark of enmity in almost every community, and
not infrequently encountered the real flame. While we could not
hope then to do much toward stamping this out, we knew that by
going through it and succeeding in our particular determination,
we should become part of the integral triumph. Once or twice,
owing to this enmity, the appointed place of showing our pictures
had to be changed, or an engagement postponed, and even the legality
of our sending men over to serve with the French Army was challenged;
but such opposition, it is almost needless to say, kindled only
a more determined zeal among those who had our interests in hand,
and the outcome was accordingly always in our favor.

The press notice and publicity resulting from these pictures
lent a keen impetus to recruiting. Harvard, Cornell, California,
and many other colleges, and cities throughout the country, contributed
large numbers of men and cars. The first section of men to go
across as a unit was sent by Leland Stanford University, and sailed
directly after the German declaration of unrestricted warfare,
two months before this country entered the war. Stanford later
recruited two more sections, and within a few weeks Princeton
and Dartmouth each sent four complete units. Harvard, which sent
over two units at this time, contributed from first to last nearly
three hundred and fifty men to the Field Service. The city of
St. Louis gave the first section of ambulances and drivers equipped,
and wherever necessary, financed, Cleveland, Chicago, Buffalo,
and many other cities showing similar activity during the spring
of 1917. General and civic interest in the departure of these
volunteers was evident in many ways and places, and even before
our actual entry into the war they met with many tributes of approval
and enthusiasm, such as the public presentation of section flags,
and various other farewell ceremonies in their own cities and
in New York.

One of the finest sections (camion) in the service,
both as to character and record, was the youngest as to personnel.
Phillips Academy, Andover, shortly before the American declaration
of war, organized a unit, of their own volition, without our solicitation,
and despite the natural reluctance of their families to have them
go before the day of necessity. The admirable standard of Andover's
whole war service was due, at least in part, to the character
and attitude of the Principal, Dr. Stearns, Certainly in our relations
with the representatives of a hundred or more colleges or universities
in America, we met no finer individual force than his. Among the
many volunteers who crossed on the steamer with this unit, there
were some who expressed skepticism as to such "boys"
being able to "see it through." In a friendly sparring
contest in settlement of this point a few days later, however,
two of them, Frank Talmage and Schuyler Lee, proved ready victors.
Almost within the year of their arrival in France, Lee and three
of those who went with him --- Bruce, Taylor, and Dresser ---
had died in battle. Willingly enough they gave their youth, and
their right to the light of life and friendship. We who knew them,
and all that they were, realize the fulness of that offering.
They never looked back but to quicken those who followed, and
so perhaps led more surely than they knew. Out of their dreams
they have left us great realities --- and many tasks to make worthy
these days that are still ours.

The accumulating pressure immediately following this success
made necessary much greater staffs in all our offices. At this
time there were many hundred men weekly to be dealt with, from
each of whom we had to get six letters of recommendation, a birth
certificate, a guaranty of non-German parentage, a written consent
of parents or guardian when the applicant was under age, a certificate
of inoculation, a driver's license, etc., in addition to much
preliminary correspondence. During the later spring it proved
necessary to place representatives in the War Department, to adjust
military technicalities; in the Bureau of Citizenship in Washington,
to attend to the matter of passports; in the Compagnie Générale
Transatlantique, New York, to arrange details of sailing;
in the Consulate, and various other offices. Moreover, during
the days of transition which followed, communication had to be
established between all our men of draft age at the front and
their respective draft boards in all parts of the country ---entailing
a vast amount of complicated correspondence.

ANDOVER MEMBERS OF THE FIELD
SERVICE
Who died in the fulfilment of their duty

In Boston, by courtesy of Lee, Higginson & Co., our large
staff was amply cared for as to working quarters, for in this
emergency, as well as all others from beginning to end, the late
Major Henry L. Higginson gave us his support and personal interest.
In all the risks and swift decisions of those days, the Service
had no more constant watcher and ally than he. Always when we
needed sound, courageous judgment to justify or to confute a seeming
obligation, he stood ready both with advice and with responsibility.
Appreciating his many other exacting interests, we might perhaps
have spared him our problems, but all of us who knew him felt
that one of the finest factors of his citizenship was that he
cared more to share the burdens than the triumphs of his friends.
It would have been unwise, and impossible, to have been near him
and not to have turned to him for advice in the creation of any
great work.

In New York, as the port of embarkation, a multitude of recruits
had to be helped through the exigencies of departure, and an immense
number of problems had daily to be disposed of. In facing this
almost limitless increase of detail, we had looked often, if with
inarticulate longing, at some fine offices close to our own, and
belonging to the estate of the late Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan. Large
and perfectly equipped as were the offices which Mr. Bacon allowed
us to share, all the American interests of the Neuilly Hospital
had to be cared for there, so that the omnivorous demands of our
growth seemed an imposition. Mr. Bacon had already gone to France
on General Pershing's staff ; so after one most busy and congested
morning, we were spurred into calling upon Mr. J. P. Morgan and
to confiding in him our difficulties. Within the hour he had arranged
that we should take immediate possession, gratis, of the coveted
quarters. As this gave us five large rooms directly across the
hall from where we were, we had only to reinstate ourselves and
were thereby spared the inconvenience and confusion which a change
of address would have involved at such a crucial time. Of the
many recollections of our four years, these days were perhaps
at once our most stimulating and our most discouraging; at one
hour full of new opportunity too fine not to be met, and the next
moment facing some impasse of red tape or changing regulations.
The race to meet the unprecedented demands upon our energy and
resources, before the inevitable arrival of centralized and governmental
control of all such work as ours, was only won by the younger
members of our staff, who labored voluntarily during long days,
and then met in almost nightly council in order to deal better
with their problems of the morning. Many a thrust they parried,
and many a means they found, where those who were older and more
fearful of result might have paused, and so missed the good achievement.
Should there be here and there some one who remembers an inconvenience
to himself, or some inaccurate direction in passing through these
offices, let him wonder now if in those days he spent his energy
to any better purpose than did they.

Upon the entry of the United States into
the conflict, there swiftly followed for us complexities great
and small. Foremost, perhaps, was the question of whether our
volunteers then in France might continue so to serve, and whether,
at least for the present, we might continue to accept more recruits.
In view of the exigencies of mobilization and conscription, it
seemed best to consult at once with the Secretary of War. Although
Mr. Baker had shown himself in various ways appreciative of the
Field Service, he naturally had not felt at liberty to give any
public expression in this regard until April 7, when he wrote
as follows:

Confirming our conversation of this morning, I beg leave to
say to you, as the Representative of the American Ambulance Field
Service, that the War Department looks with appreciation and
approval upon the splendid service being rendered by American
citizens in France in association with the French Army. These
young men are serving their own country in the highest way by
their courageous contribution to the efficiency of the armies
of those associated in interest with us in this war. I, perhaps,
have no right to urge that they remain in France now that the
United States has entered upon active military preparation in
the conflict, but, at least for the present, a substantial number
of these young men will not be needed here, and the training
they are securing, while a mere incident to the service they
are rendering, will qualify them to be of especial value in the
American Army at a later time.

(Signed) NEWTON D. BAKER
Secretary of War

To a similar telegram sent soon after by the Secretary of War
to our California and Stanford Units, he adds, "I congratulate
you that you are about to join a chosen company of Americans who
have rendered distinguished service."

Thanks to these official tributes of approval, we were able
to continue our effort; but there quickly followed the problem
of the release of our men from universities without the loss of
their degrees. Within the week, however, Cornell University had
passed the following resolutions:

RESOLVED, that the University Faculty advises that the several
faculties recommend for graduation all members of the senior
class in good standing, who would normally graduate in June and
who are enrolled or may enroll, in the land or naval forces of
the state or nation, and whose services require their absence
from the University.

RESOLVED, further, that the above provisions apply to those
students who may become members of the American Ambulance Field
Service in France.

Immediately thereafter, Harvard, Princeton, Dartmouth, Leland
Stanford, and practically all the universities and colleges throughout
the country passed similar resolutions granting to the members
of the Field Service the same academic privileges as were given
to those entering the United States Army or Navy.

During 1915 and 1916 the growth of the Service, though constant,
was very gradual, but during April, May, and June of 1917 it exceeded
any figures which could have been logically foreseen, especially
as we had made less effort at this period than previously. This
perhaps resulted from the fact that very many of those who had
seen our pictures, without responding at the time, felt it the
most sympathetic way of giving after this country had actually
entered the war. Until this time we had experienced no insuperable
difficulties in shipping all necessary material to France, or
in building ambulances as quickly as they were given. Realizing
that a greatly increased output of cars would be necessary to
meet the increase in enlistments, we had purchased several hundred
extra chassis, a great quantity of extra parts, and had
engaged to send to France a number of mechanics to meet the emergency.
We had made arrangements in regard to shipment with the automobile
companies, the Clearing House, and steamship lines, and a quantity
of chassis were on the piers in New York awaiting embarkation.
Just at this period, however, the French Government, to fill an
exigent need for aeroplane construction, assumed practically the
entire use of the staff and shops of Kellner, at Billancourt,
to which was attached our assembling and repair park, and where
were built our ambulance bodies for the chassis we shipped
from America. At the same time there occurred an unusual shortage
of available shipping space from this country on trans-Atlantic
liners, owing to exports of a nature vital to the Allies, and
which had to take precedence over our equipment, so that we had
no alternative but to submit to the delay at this time. To our
further trial, we had just lost a large consignment of chassis
and parts by the torpedoing of the S.S. Orduna, moreover, the
Red Cross, in the fulfilment of its titanic task, was obliged
to assume complete use of the Clearing House. As soon as it became
apparent that we could not for the time being promise to put large
numbers of new cars into the field, we refused to accept further
such donations, and offered to individuals and organizations that
had given cars at this time the prompt return of their contributions,
if they felt unwilling to submit to the inevitable delay. Too
warm a tribute cannot be paid to those who bad so contributed,
and who then gave proof of very generous understanding and confidence,
for of the several hundred cars received just previously we were
asked for the return of only four. Within the next few months
every car given had gone into the field and subsequently served
its purpose well with the United States Army Ambulance Corps.

Perhaps the most exigent problem, however, resulting from the
unexpected difficulties of shipment and construction, was that
several hundred drivers who had just sailed could not be advised
of the changed circumstances until their arrival in France; also,
we had just accepted as drivers many men who had left their former
addresses too late to receive the notification before arriving
in New York to sail, and there naturally resulted many personal
equations to be solved. But the men showed a most generous spirit
of readiness to adapt themselves to delays and disappointments
during these weeks, and putting aside their individual preferences,
did the most helpful part.

THE CAMION SERVICE AND MILITARIZATION

JUST prior to this, during a period of unusual activity in
the region of Soissons, we had received, through Commandant Doumenc,
Director, at the French Ministry of War, of the Automobile Service,
an urgent appeal to the effect that if it should prove possible
for us to supply them with personnel for transport sections for
the carrying of ammunition and supplies, we could so render the
utmost service. We were advised that they had a sufficient number
of trucks, but were at this time ten thousand drivers short where
it was proposed we should coöperate. In view of the exigency
of this need, and the temporary difficulties in the output of
ambulances, we could not have done otherwise than accept this
obligation. As soon as feasible, therefore, this new branch. of
the Service was inaugurated, and an appeal made to men who had
recently arrived to help in the accomplishment of this purpose.
Some of them, who had sailed just before this development, of
course felt morally bound, on arriving, to serve only in accordance
with the understanding of their friends in America who had made
it possible for them to come over. Through the courtesy of the
French Army, which soon after loaned us some ambulances pending
the assembling and equipment of the last contingent of our own
cars, the desire of a majority of the men who were willing to
wait was accomplished after a few weeks' delay.

A large number of drivers, however, were free to choose, and
though perhaps preferring ambulance, accepted the Camion
Service. Whatever the value of our work in France has been, these
men should have the satisfaction of remembering the double share
of credit which is theirs. To their spirit was no doubt largely
due the fact that, hard and unromantic as this work was, the eight
hundred Field Service men who entered the Réserve Mallet
later fulfilled so effectively, as their record proves, a highly
important purpose.

The taking over of the Service by the United
States Army was not only to be desired, but for several reasons
was inevitable. Our declaration of war and the subsequent preparations
for sending over our expeditionary force, which involved strict
draft regulations, had placed members of a volunteer organization
at the front in a technically ambiguous position. While the record
and standing of our ambulance drivers with the French Army was
of the highest order, as the honors and citations conferred upon
them testify, it was obvious that the work that they had undertaken
voluntarily had since become an obligation. The changed circumstances
made many hundred of our men feel that having fulfilled the original
spirit of their intention, they were now free to enlist as they
chose. During the subsequent months a large number entered artillery,
aviation, or other branches of the army. About sixty per cent,
however, remained as members of the ambulance and transport. More
than a hundred of our men, with fine records and long experience,
who were anxious to enlist for the duration of the war, were rejected
on account of slight physical defect. Be it said to their credit,
the majority of them subsequently entered the French Artillery
School at Fontainebleau, and graduating in due course, became
officers in the French Army.

CEREMONY OF FAREWELL TENDERED
THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AND LELAND STANFORD UNITS
BY THE FRIENDS OF FRANCE SOCIETY,
IN SAN FRANCISCO, APRIL 24, 1917

The most potent factor, however, necessitating our enrolment
in the United States National Army, was that when the first French
commission arrived in Washington in May, 1917, General Joffre
was asked by Surgeon-General Gorgas what immediate service the
United States Army Medical Department could do for France. His
reply was a request that the United States should undertake, as
far as possible, the responsibility of caring for the wounded
of the French armies at the front. A more satisfying tribute could
scarcely have been paid the Field Service than this request that
the work it had carried on in France for more than two years should
be supplemented and entirely assumed by Americans. As a consequence,
General Gorgas authorized, through the Secretary of War, the organization
of the United States Army Ambulance Service at Allentown.

During the period of our transition from volunteer to regular
service, our staffs offered the Army as complete coöperation
as they were able, recruiting for it through our University committees,
and all our offices, as long as it proved possible. If we could
not, perhaps, wholly repress a sense of regret in having to yield
all rights of administration, and the satisfaction which an intimate
knowledge of each day's achievement in such work as this meant,
it was compensation to remember that the Americans whose initiative
and energy during the first three years had made so fine a record
in France, and we whose opportunity it was to stand behind them,
were able to turn over to our own Army at one of the greatest
moments of need in its history, so useful an organization.

THE DEBT TO AMERICAN YOUTH

No true ledger of our account can exist without recording the
one obligation underlying and supporting all the traffic of our
days. Every one who helped in this country to make the Service
will surely most care to acknowledge the debt we owe to American
youth. In relation to our work, certainly, its influence was paramount,
and upon its desire to be part of a great purpose we were able
to build a very useful structure. Changing needs and complications
made many a day's labor seem on moving sands, but through the
unflagging energy and resource of those who served us by speaking
and recruiting throughout this country, and by doing their part
in France, the work was at last well accomplished. To them is
truly due the fulfilment --- and they brought back high interest
on all that we were able to contribute. Had they done anything
else, or anything less than they did, the rest of the effort would
have proved of little consequence. Those of us whose chance it
has been to have had a part in the administration of the Service,
to have shared its success, and to have gained through it much
credit and many friendships, owe to these men all of this, and
more. During the four years when they passed through our American
offices, and later gave fine measure of their character in France,
they were among the first to bear evidence of a spirit which existed
in this country behind the quiescence of the first three years
of the war --- and afterward among the foremost of those who made
the larger sacrifice, and won. The pages and roster of this book
are testimony enough of the first and final worth of what they
gave. Some of them fought and died as they would most have wished.
Many of them had opportunity for leadership, and so distinguished
themselves; to others chance gave the less inspiring share of
obscure service, but where their part held for them only unheroic
toil and long months of inaction, they did equally well.

Through the burdens which we have been privileged to assume
in their support, most of us have probably reached as high a mark
of satisfied effort as we shall know. Remembering that, and realizing
how much they have passed through that was worth while, we may
have sympathy with their problem of the future. If for us there
is some poignance in having finished an era of unselfish labor,
even less stimulating it must be for younger men to suspect, as
some of these doubtless do, that they have reached their zenith.
In all the pageantry of war, with its vividness and shadow, many
new values have come before them, and their imagination has been
quickened so that their question is no longer merely that of "making
a living." As we pause on finishing a book that has taken
us far out of ourselves, so the majority must feel in having closed
the most stirring chapter of their lives. Keen enough, as they
have proven, to give their utmost, they are not now content to
waste it.

For whatever of discomfort and occasional resentment their
days in France may have held, there was compensation in the living
drama. There, too, duty was clear, and they knew that in the end
the experience would be worth all cost. Finally, they had there
companionship and mutual understanding with a greater number of
those about them than any other phase of life could bring.

The spirit which led them to France by inclination, before
the time of obligation, is the same that in considering the future
makes them hesitate to dedicate themselves permanently to a purpose
with little human interest. In the maze of possibilities they
have come home to face, some may be fortunate in finding their
desire; but very many will have to be content with small monotony,
unless those of us whose lives are more established can serve
them to finer purpose. That they are unconscious of the debt we
owe makes the obligation doubly ours. When one of these men cares
to bring us the question of his future, we may rightly feel inclined
to stand up, not only in tribute to what he has done, and the
way he has done it, but because so largely in him lies the solution
of the disorder war has left. It is for us to make him comprehend
our confidence in his capacity. If we can put many such men forward
with the knowledge of our reliance on their strength and resource
in meeting new problems in their own country, as they have met
the greater crisis, we shall have done something for them, more
for ourselves, and much for posterity.

As a useful factor in Franco-American relations, this small
group of volunteers may still prove of value beyond their numerical
proportion. With such influence as is theirs by affiliation and
training, with their willing sense of responsibility, and of the
debt they each wish to pay for the fine friendship and example
they found in France, they will do much to see that that which
they have won shall not be wasted.

Nor has France forgotten the spirit of our coming. In the spring
of 1917, when we were soon to become a part of the American Army,
a distinguished French statesman, then on a mission to this country,
said: "If in the course of events which are to come the Field
Service may seem to lose its identity, that really can never be
possible. To every man in our Army it is the finest tribute of
friendship you could have paid us; and your work will be always
a page in the history of France."

It has become now as fairly a page of credit in American history,
that our future compatriots may gratefully read, though they perhaps
pass over it with little realization of many values within the
obvious story. For each of us who has had even a small part in
its making, it is the chapter we shall ever know best by heart,
and in relation to the whole sum of our advantage in the doing,
these volumes can seem but fragmentary facts and figures, since
between the lines for us there lies unwritten so many an example
to make clearer the problem of our days.

In the beginning we sought our task with the will to help whenever
and however it should prove possible; but just how small our sacrifice
was destined to be, in comparison to that of the friends we meant
to serve, nor how sure our own compensation, we could not have
foreseen. We went forth unknowing. But if we were not deep enough
of vision to first approach with fitting deference what were to
prove ultimate lights for many of us, nor to suspect how deeply
the revelation might govern our perspective, now, after these
years, we stand in still respect for what we have learned. In
weighing all the privilege and gain this Service must ever find
its greatest asset in having served from first to last beside
the Army and the people of France --- their friends through many
dark, immortal days. Constancy to such a relation would in itself
have been enough to make its members ever zealous in duty ---
but even selfishness could have sought no larger profit than that
which they have gathered. For most of us it has been truly sic
itur ad astra, and on that far journey there passed before
us a standard good to remember and to uphold in facing whatever
part each of us may have yet to do for this country of our own.
In going first to France we took what seemed our best, but now
returning we have brought a finer thing than ever we were able
to put upon the altar of our good intention.

HENRY D. SLEEPER*

*Of Boston, Massachusetts; American Representative of the
Field Service, 1915-16-17; later Director of the A.F.S. Headquarters
in France, 1918-19.

THE story of the American Field Service will be found in the
section histories and in the narratives that follow, a story which
shows the life that these American volunteers shared with their
French comrades for upward of two years. The reader will judge
for himself what the Service gave and what its members gained
in serving. He will find there, above all, what these three thousand
men saw and learned of the French soldier, with whom they considered
it a privilege to serve, during the years before America's entry
into the war.

The opportunity which these three thousand men enjoyed was
necessarily the result of the founding and perfecting of an organization
which could fulfil a need of the French Army. It was necessary,
not only to foresee its value, but, once this was established,
so to organize it as to meet the demands of the army it was serving.
It is the purpose of this article to show, by following the growth
of the Service, the various steps which had to be taken to meet
the continual demands of the Automobile Service of the French
Army; and it will be seen that these demands kept growing as the
Service gained in efficiency and size.

It is of interest to note that not only was there no precedent
to follow, but also that the ever-changing needs of war continually
called for unforeseen developments of the Service. This was a
task which required confidence, vision, and courage in its leadership.
Mr. Andrew realized, from the moment of its first success in 1915,
that in perfecting the organization in every detail he was laying
a foundation which could be built upon as money and volunteers
were forthcoming. His task from then on was twofold: first, to
maintain the standard of efficiency of the sections; and, secondly,
to increase the Service as rapidly as possible. That he accomplished
this task the story of the Service will show. Its accomplishment
meant not only the transportation of hundreds of thousands of
French wounded, thousands of tons of shells and supplies, but
also, and what was, perhaps, of equal importance, the exertion
of an ever-increasing influence on American thought and sympathy
in favor of France and the Allied Cause.

This chapter can be divided into three distinct parts --- for
each of the three years was distinguished by certain results ---
results upon which the following year's plans and work were based.
The first year saw the success of the initial conception of the
Service; the second year showed relatively small but very definite
growth, and gave a full participation of the Service, with the
complete confidence of the French Army, in the great battle of
Verdun. In addition, the organization in America was developed
and experience was gained in this branch which gave, in the third
year, thirty-three ambulance sections and fourteen transport sections
to the French armies at a most necessary time, for the hardest
of battles were to be fought this year at many places along the
front. Moreover, it insured the incorporation of both branches
of the Service in the United States Army.

1915

IN the month of April, 1915, all the preliminary arrangements
for a volunteer ambulance service on the front had been completed.
These arrangements had proved no easy task, for the French authorities
had had some bitter experiences with spies masquerading as neutrals
and much disillusionment as to the value of amateur war-workers.
They were slow to be convinced that an organization composed entirely
of amateur neutrals could give any real service. They had been
perfectly willing to use volunteers in the evacuation of hospitals
in the rear zone, but it was not until Mr. Andrew had succeeded
in persuading these authorities that young American volunteers
were more fitted for work at the front, and had guaranteed that
only those whose loyalty to the Allies was unmistakable would
be allowed to serve, that at last they permitted sections to be
formed under army standards. So, in April, three sections were
partially formed from the volunteers and cars which had heretofore
been serving in scattered squads. These sections, when completed,
consisted of twenty ambulances, a staff car, a supply car, each
with a personnel of an American Commandant-Adjoint and
about twenty-five drivers, in addition to the French personnel.
Section Sanitaire Américaine No 1, as it was officially
called, being formed from squads already working near Dunkirk,
was at first stationed in that vicinity; Section Sanitaire
Américaine No 2 was organized in Paris and sent to
Lorraine; Section Sanitaire Américaine No 3 was
also formed in Paris, and was ordered to the Vosges Mountains.

The service rendered by these three sections during this year
was one of real achievement which went even beyond what had been
hoped for. Section One, having given an excellent account of itself
in the long-range bombardments and air raids at Dunkirk, was rewarded
by being entrusted with important work in Belgium at Coxyde, Nieuport,
Poperinghe, Elverdinghe, Crombeke, and other postes de secours
during the battles along the Yser. Section Two had to win
recognition in a region already served by a French sanitary section
and to which it was attached to do secondary work. The Section
not only accomplished its own work, but made it possible for the
French section to be withdrawn from this sector, the Americans
taking over the postes de secours in and near Bois le Prêtre,
a sector at that time renowned for its continual and heavy fighting.
Section Three was entrusted with a sector in which, previously,
automobile evacuations could only be performed far back of the
lines owing to the mountainous country. The Section was able to
send its light cars up over the narrow mountain roads to the postes
near Metzeral and at Hartmannsweilerkopf, thus substituting
automobiles for mules which had been, up to that time, the only
means of transporting wounded.

STEPHEN GALATTI

The three sections had faced three separate transportation
problems. In Belgium, the cobblestone roads with the deep mud
had proved no obstacle; at Pont-à-Mousson, the heavy ravitaillement
convoys had not slowed up the small ambulances; in the Vosges
Mountains, the steep grades had given the opportunity for the
replacement of the mule. There could be no doubt that the light
car which had been selected was an admirable choice and that it
had fulfilled every test of front-line work.

Although the solution of mechanical difficulties was of vital
importance, the success of these three Sections was due at least
as much to the type of men who had volunteered for this service.
Already the universities were furnishing the largest quota of
men. They brought to their work youth and intelligence, initiative
and courage.

In November, 1915, at the request of General Headquarters,
a fourth section took its place in the field --- perhaps the greatest
proof of the efficiency of the three early sections.

The year 1915 closed with three sections well established and
a fourth finding its place on the line. The initial problems of
section organization and section relationship with the French
Army had been defined, and four French divisions were being officially
served by American volunteer ambulance sections.

1916

IT was evident at the beginning of 1916 that the Service now
firmly established at the front was the natural expression of
that desire to give active and personal aid felt by many Americans.
To those who were in the Service, and who knew what man-power
meant to France, even at that time, it would have been a betrayal
of their own action if they had not wished others to follow their
example.

To pursue this policy, it was necessary to give publicity in
America to the work the American Field Service was accomplishing
as well as to lay plans for the probable expansion of the organization.
It was a suitable period for this work. The early winter, from
the point of view of the sections, was not an active one. Section
One, attached to a colonial division had moved to the Somme; Section
Two was still at Pont-à-Mousson; Section Three had moved
from Alsace at the end of January to repos near Nancy;
and Section Four was receiving its baptism in the rather quiet
Toul Sector.

The material for a book, Friends of France, was collected
and sent to America; moving pictures were arranged for with the
help of the French Government, with a view, not only of showing
at home what the Service was accomplishing, but especially of
presenting through the eyes of these American volunteers the appeal
of the Army with which they were serving and the truth of its
cause.

As for the interior organization of the Service itself, a new
system for the repair work of the cars was established. Previously
spare parts and Ford chassis had been bought from the Ford
Company in France to meet the current demands of the sections.
With an enlargement of the Service, this hand-to-mouth policy
was inadequate, and it was wisely decided to import parts from
America and to organize a repair park, which was not only to serve
as an overhauling and assembling park for ambulances, but also
as a warehouse and distribution point for spare parts. The office
and the quarters for the new men needed also to be changed. In
the American Ambulance Hospital in Neuilly, which up to this time
had served as the Field Service Headquarters, there was only space
in a little outhouse (comprising one room and a telephone booth)
for the office, while the attic of the hospital was the only available
dormitory for the men. It was hard to find a place which would
be adequate, but fortunately no hasty decision was taken and the
problem was eventually solved by the generous gift of the spacious
house and grounds at 21 rue Raynouard. A mistake in moving to
quarters smaller than these would have resulted in a difficult
situation later on.

The spring and early summer of 1916 brought great activity
for the Service. Late in February Section Two moved to the Verdun
sector, where it was assigned first of all to the service of evacuation
from triage to H.O.E. This service is the hardest
test for a volunteer ambulance section, for it means long runs
on crowded roads without the excitement of front work, still harder
here in the Verdun battle, where the first great test of automobile
transportation was forced on the French. The faithfulness with
which this task was performed during those interminable months
proved that, under difficult circumstances, even long evacuations
could be handled well by the light Field Service cars. Section
Four moved to Verdun from the Toul sector early in June with postes
on the left bank of the Meuse, the poste at Marre being
not two hundred yards from the German lines. Section Three was
the next to take its turn. Ordered from Maxeville on the 20th
of June with its division, it arrived near Verdun at one of the
most critical periods of this long battle. Its division was placed
in the line on the right bank of the Meuse, the Section serving
the poste at Bras and evacuating directly to Verdun. It
was at this point that the Germans nearly broke through, and the
road was under continual bombardment, the village of Fleury, to
which it led, being taken and retaken several times. The division
was taken out after a week and the Section went on a well-earned
repos, curiously enough to Pont-à-Mousson, the old
home of Section Two. The Bras poste later became familiar
to many sections; Four, Eight, Nine, Eighteen, Sixty-Four, and
Sixty-Nine having especially difficult evacuations there. Long
after Section Three had left, Barber's car, smashed by a shelf,
still stood as a landmark by the side of the road.

Section Eight, formed in Paris in June, 1916, and sent to Champagne
for a week, was transferred to Verdun, with its cantonment at
Dugny on the right bank of the Meuse, and its postes at
the Fort de Tavannes and the Cabaret Rouge.

Section One saw two days of the bombardment which ushered in
the battle of the Somme, and then, to their dismay, received orders
to move. To have worked for months in a sector, knowing every
road, every position, not only of one's own division, but of the
enemy's, to know an attack was coming, to prepare for its every
possible phase, and then, just as it was starting, to be ordered
away, was unquestionably bitter medicine for an ambulance section.
But there was consolation in the fact that orders were soon picked
up to go to Verdun, and a day later, Section One drew up alongside
of Section Eight at Dugny and instantly ran into difficult and
dangerous work. Section Eight moved en repos to Lorraine,
and Section One soon after received a repos only to go
back to the same position for another hard period.

The activity at the front was reflected at Headquarters. The
five sections had made necessarily large demands for material
to keep up their efficiency. New cars and parts had to be sent
out without delay. It was at this moment also that heavy repair
cars, kitchen trailers, and trucks could be issued to the sections,
through generous gifts, thus insuring their capacity and independence
as units. Headquarters activity, however, was not confined to
the supplying and administration of the sections. The plans of
the winter had become realities. The repair park at Billancourt
was an actual fact. A large building had been rented within Kellner's
factory, where the ambulance bodies were constructed. Machinery
was installed, and mechanics were, by May, at work repairing and
assembling cars. A large stock-room within the building with each
spare part in its own numbered bin was already filled with the
first direct shipment from America. In June the park was no longer
an experiment. The proof was Section Nine, which, one early morning
in the latter part of the month, received its cars there and rolled
out to Versailles --- the first step on its long journey to Alsace.
In July the Headquarters were thoroughly established and adequate
offices permitted independence of action. Extensive dormitories
and a refectory offered a home, not only to the newly arrived
volunteers, but to permissionnaires(1) and to those returning to America. It was at
this time also that Bordeaux and Le Havre became principal points
in our sphere of action. Chassis arriving there had to
be assembled and driven overland. A group of schoolboy volunteers,
only able to enlist for the summer, helped in this necessary work.
Thus it was possible to take advantage of those wonderful summer
days to lay the basis for the next winter, for it took at least
three months from the shipment of a chassis from America
for it to be placed in commission as an ambulance.

It was at the end of this year that we received the first tangible
evidence of the fact that our Service was one that the French
felt they could count on as really being a part of their army
and not simply an auxiliary service. In September, 1916, the French
Automobile Service asked if we could send a section of our light
cars to the Balkans, it being their opinion that the evacuation
work in that difficult region could be most efficiently done by
one of our sections. The request addressed to us to send a section
so far away from the base was also an indication of the confidence
in which the personnel of our Service was held, although at that
time we were only serving six French divisions. It was a request
which we felt we should meet, primarily because the men of our
Service felt very keenly that wherever the French Army must go,
we should go. The French Army had accepted us and permitted us
to participate in the greatest battles: Could we refuse, which
was technically easy, to go to the Orient because it was not a
popular assignment? Section Three did not think so. Their Section
Commander, Lovering Hill, and the French Lieutenant, Dérode
(who could have refused on account of ill-health), were as eager
as the men, many of whom had been with the Section since its formation
eighteen months before.

Twenty-four hours after the agreement had been made, the Section
arrived in Paris, having made the trip from Lorraine. Extra cars
and a supply of spare parts for at least six months were furnished
out of the stock which had been ordered for just such an emergency.
Not many days later, the order came for the departure of the Section,
and that night at a freight station in the outskirts of Paris
the men boarded the train which was to take them and their material
to Marseilles, the first lap of their long journey.

The departure of Section Three marked the inevitable closing
of a chapter in the history of the Service. It was a chapter of
intimate association made possible by the throwing together of
less than 200 young men of the same education and ideas at a time
when there seemed little hope that their countrymen would take
up the cause they had made their own. Furloughs brought men from
different sections together in the comfortable home at rue Raynouard,
at a time when, more than at any other, Paris reflected the attitude
of the soldiers who were defending her at the front. This close
association and friendship, afterwards, when the Service grew
to much larger proportions, found its expression in the sections.

With the Service in France ready for expansion and the French
Automobile Service insisting not only that our present sections
must be maintained, but that it would be of inestimable value
if we could form more sections, it was vital that the American
Field Service should make every effort to meet this demand. Since
the battle of Verdun it had become evident that the Automobile
Service of the army must be developed; that on it depended the
quick movement of troops and supplies which so many times afterwards
turned defeat into victory. For every sanitary section that the
American Field Service could send to the front, an equal number
of Frenchmen would be released for other branches of the Automobile
Service. With this in view, Mr. Andrew went to America, and with
Mr. Sleeper's aid, laid the basis of an organization there which
was destined to furnish substantial results soon after.

1917

THE year 1917 was destined to be one of little rest for any
one connected with the Service. Very shortly after Mr. Andrew's
return, two demands came from General Headquarters which proved
beyond doubt that they felt they were dealing with a Service which
they could count on as their own. They asked for another section
to go to the Balkans and for a detachment of ambulances to be
sent to the Vosges Mountains in Alsace. The first demand was complied
with by forming Section Ten, under the command of Henry Suckley
whose long experience and capacity fitted him well for this task.
The request for the Vosges Detachment was a tribute to the effective
service of the type of ambulance modelled by this Service, for
since the example set by Section Three, it was found that no French
section could do the work of this difficult region so well.

The early winter proved a very hard one for the sections at
the front. Sections One, Two, and Four were in line on the left
bank of the Meuse and in the Argonne, shifting their stations
once or twice, but all taking their turn at the postes of Esnes,
Montzéville, Hill 272, and Marre, where the roads were
always dangerous even when there was no attack, and always muddy
and difficult. Section Eight travelled to the Somme during the
last part of the offensive and then travelled back to Verdun on
the Bras run. Section Nine took its turn at Bras and then went
to Lorraine. Section Twelve came to the front in January, relieving
Section One on the Esnes run, getting there its full baptism of
fire.

An interesting custom began this winter with the giving of
farewell dinners to the sections on the eve of their departure
for the front. The custom had been inaugurated by Section Nine,
but the first two dinners were only informal gatherings. Their
tone, however, gave the idea of making them more formal by inviting
prominent Frenchmen and Americans, who by their friendly and inspiring
speeches made these evenings memorable. What member of Section
Twelve will ever forget M. Hugues Le Roux's story of his son who
had gone to the battle front with a fresh enthusiasm such as theirs
and who, although almost immediately mortally wounded, would not
allow himself to be carried back until after his wounded soldiers
had been attended to, thus facing hours of agony and torment.
A fitting son to the father, who, while thanking these volunteers
for the service they were giving his country, taught us all that
great lesson of patriotism which was making France supreme. Each
dinner had its special charm, but whether the speaker was American
or French, soldier or civilian, the theme of service and respect
for the country we were serving was always predominant. After
the United States entered the war, we heard our Ambassador, at
last able to speak as he felt; and at the same dinner, M. Jules
Cambon, and later, Captain (now General) Churchill. At other dinners
we heard inspiring addresses by Captain Puaux, who had been on
General Joffre's staff; Lieutenant René Puaux, who had
served on the staff of General Foch; representatives of the French
G.H.Q.; Mr. Frank Simonds, Mr. Will Irwin, President John H. Finley,
Abbé Dimnet, and many others. Surely all honor was being
paid to the men as they left for their place at the front.

In the early spring six more ambulance sections were placed
at the disposal of the French armies; Section Thirteen, which
went to Champagne and took part in the great April French offensive;
Section Fourteen, to Lorraine; Section Fifteen to Verdun, its
first car being hit by shrapnel near the poste at Esnes less than
fifty-four hours after leaving Paris; Section Sixteen, to the
Argonne, where it stayed for nine months; and Sections Seventeen
and Eighteen, to the Second Army Reserve.

Boxed chassis waiting
to be assembled

Preparations for the departure
of a section.
Section Fifteen almost ready to leave for the front

THE GARDEN AT 21 RUE RAYNOUARD

The declaration of war by the United States brought grave decisions
for those who were responsible for the Service. The physical fact
which stood out on April 4, 1917, was that here in France was
a volunteer American organization growing in size and, as it grew,
filling much-needed vacancies in the non-combatant branch of the
Automobile Service (if the French Army. When on April 5, Mr. Andrew
telephoned to Commandant Doumenc, the Head of the Automobile Service,
and asked him in what way the American Field Service, now that
America had come into the war, could help the French Army best,
the answer came back immediately over the telephone requesting
seven thousand drivers for camions as soon as possible
under the same conditions as governed the functioning of the ambulance
sections of the Field Service. There was one indisputable lesson
the three years of war had taught, and that was that nothing less
than the greatest effort in whatever capacity was worth while.
Could the American Field Service, whose record had always been
to try and meet to its fullest capacity whatever demands had been
made on it, refuse now to make every attempt to further its capacity
in a branch of service for which it was especially fitted? It
would have been easy to have confined our efforts to ambulance
sections, the field in which the Service had been working, but
its growth would have been restricted to four sections a month,
restrictions due to the average amount of gifts being received
at this time, due to delay in transportation, due to lack of facilities
for building bodies, the only available builders having diverted
most of their energies to aeroplane construction. By extending
its functions, the Service could be of greater immediate aid to
the French Army, at the same time keeping up its output of ambulance
sections, and this at a time when there was no indication as to
whether the United States would send an expeditionary force, and
even if so, how large a one. The decision was taken and a cable
was sent to America explaining that volunteers were needed for
this new Service, and that hereafter the two branches of Service
would be considered as one, volunteers being assignable wherever
they could be of most use. The effects of the urgent request for
men from America soon began to bear results. Volunteers began
to stream over in May and June, as many as five hundred arriving
within three days. To cope with this influx, barracks and tents
were erected in the garden at rue Raynouard, and a house near
by was put at our disposal by the same generous friends to whom
we owed rue Raynouard. Three camps were established for the training
of these men, their large numbers making Paris now an impossible
centre for this purpose. The ambulance camp was established at
May-en-Multien, a picturesque farm belonging to a friend of the
Service, on the road between Meaux and Soissons, and the transport
camps near Dommiers and Longpont, a few kilometres south of Soissons.
Volunteers only remained in Paris for such time as was needed
to obtain uniforms and necessary papers, being then sent out to
the respective camps.

The first unit to go to the transport camp was a Cornell unit
which volunteered to take up this new work. It was followed by
a Dartmouth unit; then by California, Princeton, Marietta, and
Tufts units. Dartmouth, Princeton, Harvard, and Yale units were
also sent to the ambulance camp, and every effort was made to
form them into sections according to their units.

Another development of this period was the opening of the French
Officers' Automobile School at Meaux to members of the American
Field Service, a privilege extended only to Field Service men.
This action was taken primarily to train our men so that they
would be capable of commanding transport sections, but it was
also intended to give the American officers of the ambulance sections
sufficient technical knowledge to enable them ultimately to handle
their sections without a French officer. It was stated at French
headquarters that with the part the American Field Service was
now playing, it was essential that their American commanders should
be familiar with all the details of the French Automobile Service.
The first class was more in the nature of an experiment, and so
only fifteen men were admitted, but the later classes were each
opened to forty of our men.

Now came the period which saw the Service
at the height of its development, namely, the spring and summer
of 1917. During these months the sections and individuals did
work of which they will always be proud. Let us take the ambulance
sections first. Section One had moved to the Aisne, just west
of Reims, in a sector which, although quiet, cost them two comrades.
Nineteen-sixteen history, however, repeated itself, and again
they came to Verdun during a great battle, being once more stationed
at their old poste on the right side of the Meuse. It was
a privilege this time to place their cantonment where formerly
they had only dared go to advanced postes at night, but
their work was even more difficult and more dangerous in this
second great battle of Verdun and they well merited their Army
Citation. Section Two, which had been in the Fourth Army Reserve,
also came back to its old poste at Esnes and Hill 272,
and later at Marre, also its most trying period. Section Four
was in Champagne during the French attack of Mont Cornillet with
Section Thirteen as its neighbor, the latter also winning an Army
Citation. Section Four then moved to Verdun, running now past
Bras, on to Vacherauville. Section Eight remained at Sainte-Ménehould.
Section Fourteen came from Lorraine for the attack in Champagne,
then was sent on repos. Section Fifteen worked in the Verdun
and Argonne sectors, its Commander, Earl Osborn, being wounded
as he was taking over a new poste. Section Sixteen remained
in the Argonne until relieved by Section Thirty-Three; its poste
was to the left of the attacking line, but in the midst of
batteries, which made it one of the worst sectors for an ambulance
section. Section Seventeen at first evacuated to the rear, but
later took over advanced postes to the right of Section
Sixteen. Section Eighteen got its chance for a week on the Verdun-Bras-Vacherauville
road. Section Nineteen was in the Argonne to the left of Section
Sixteen. Section Twenty-Six was in the Saint-Mihiel sector, a
quiet one, but earned a citation during an enemy air raid. Sections
Twenty-Seven and Twenty-Eight were in Champagne, the latter having
the trying and dangerous sector where Osborn was killed and two
men wounded during their first week of work. Section Twenty- Nine
replaced Section Two on the Montzéville-Esnes run, the
nature of the work being evidenced by the loss of Newlin and the
wounding of their Chef, Julian Allen. Section Thirty did
evacuation work at Dugny, where its men learned Boche methods
when aviators bombed and mitrailleused the hospital to which they
were attached. Sections Thirty-One and Thirty-Two were both in
the battle before they were taken over by the United States Army,
the former on the left bank of the Meuse and the latter on the
right bank. Section Sixty-Four at first did evacuation work, but
it, and Section Sixty-Nine, took their turn later on the Verdun-Bras
road. Sections Sixty- Five and Sixty-Six were at the Chemin des
Dames, working at postes side by side and made an enviable
record in that active sector. Bentley, Hamilton, and Gailey gave
their lives in this sector. Sections Sixty-Seven and Seventy were
on the Aisne during the strenuous summer activity there which
finally culminated in the battle of Malmaison, and Section Sixty-Eight
did evacuation work in Champagne. Sections Seventy-One and Seventy-Two
were to the west in Picardy in sectors which looked out on Saint-Quentin.

Finally far away on the Balkan front Section Three was back
in the Monastir sector, after having been chosen on account of
its adaptability to the mountainous transport conditions to follow
a French division into Greece, and Section Ten was following an
Allied advance in the wilderness of Albania.

The transport sections, formed in groups in the RéserveMallet, were busy carrying ammunition and supplies in preparation
for the Chemin des Dames offensive. The work of these eight hundred
men, although confined to one area, brought them to all the battery
emplacements in this region, not only difficult runs, but dangerous
as well.

The last months of 1917 marked the transition period when both
branches of the Service were transferred to the United States
Army. The organization of the United States Army did not permit
of an automobile service, so the decision was made that the Réserve
Mallet would be taken over by the Quartermaster Corps and
the Ambulance Service would be taken over by the United States
Army Ambulance Service with the French Army, a special bill having
been passed by Congress to make possible this new arrangement.

There were many volunteers who, through previous experience
or through desire, wished to enlist or obtain commissions in the
other branches of the American Army. On the other hand, they had
contracted engagements as volunteers in the French Army for six
months. It was a difficult situation for all concerned, because
the French Army was dependent on the Service to its full capacity,
especially at a time when hard fighting was going on all along
the line. Until the regular army replacements could reach France
in substitution for the volunteers who did not wish to enlist
in the two army branches with which they were serving at the time,
the French Army could not release them from their contracts. As
it proved this delay did not impair the chances of these men.
The other services were not yet ready to train them and the long
list of commissions in every branch of the United States Army
received by American Field Service volunteers indicates that there
was little loss in opportunity due to the fulfilment of their
pledge.

THE SPIRIT OF THE SERVICE

THE enrolment of the American Field Service by the United States
Army terminated the history of the Service. The record of the
organization depended very much on the spirit of service shown
by the early volunteers of 1914 and 1915. Their example and understanding
became the standard which was passed on, not only in the old sections,
but in the new ones, a standard which formed a discipline worthy
of the Army to which they were attached. The names of all these
volunteers are in the roster, but it seems fitting to recall a
few of them whose personality and influence helped especially
to shape the Service: Lovering Hill, who arrived in France in
1914, and, beginning with the pioneer days, was given command
of Section Three in June, 1915, then after eighteen months on
the western front, took his section to the Balkans for another
year, his four personal citations proving the example he set;
Herbert Townsend, whose leadership of Section One installed a
standard which won for that section four citations; Henry Suckley,
who, after long service as Sous-Chef of Section Three,
took Section Ten to the Balkans, giving his life there in the
Service in which, as a leader, he had set an example of devotion
to the cause he knew to be right; Robert Moss, in charge of the
repair and construction park from its inception until the Service
was taken into the Army; John R. Fisher, who so successfully commanded
the Ambulance Training-Camp at May-en-Multien; Alan H. Muhr, Controller
from 1915 to 1917 and subsequently leader of Section Fourteen;
John H. MacFadden, Treasurer, who so successfully aided in the
collection of funds in America; Philip K. Potter, who represented
the Field Service in command of the Réserve Mallet;
and William de Ford Bigelow and A. D. Dodge, with their records
of long service as leaders of Sections Four and Eight, respectively,
and subsequently their earnest labors and assistance as aides
in the Paris headquarters.

FIELD SERVICE QUARTERS AND DÉPÔTS
IN PASSY AND BILLANCOURT

This chapter deals only with the part the American Field Service
played as a part of the armies of France. The record of wounded
and supplies carried by the two Services and the two hundred and
fifty decorations conferred by the divisions served, indicates
the character of work rendered. The recognition by the United
States Army of the two Services for which special provision had
to be made, a recognition which was made at the request of the
French Army, proved conclusively how vital was the continuation
of this aid to the French Army. To judge further of its importance,
one has only to see the part the Service was playing in the two
great battles that were being fought on the western front at the
time it was taken over by the United States Army.

From July until October, 1917, the Réserve Mallet
had transported ammunition, engineering supplies, thousands
upon thousands of shells day and night in preparation for the
Chemin des Dames attack. The outstanding feature of this attack
was the complete destruction by the artillery of all the strong
positions of the enemy, which resulted in the infantry attack
being such a brilliant one, with few losses. It was the fourteen
Field Service sections of volunteer camion drivers serving
with the Réserve Mallet, with their French comrades,
who transported from the railheads to the batteries practically
all the ammunition. Recognition of this fact is seen in Commandant
Doumenc's report to Mr. Andrew in which, referring to the Transport
Service, he says: " C'est elle qui a assuré la
plus grosse part des transports de munitions, au moment des attaques
heureuses qui portèrent la 6e Armée sur l'Ailette."

In the Verdun offensive in which the French regained in a few
days all the territory which they had lost to the Germans in the
great battle of 1916, American Field Service sections attached
to divisions evacuated the wounded in practically every sector
of the Verdun front from Sainte-Ménehould through the Argonne
on both sides of the Meuse, and as far as the Saint-Mihiel sector.

Sections One, Two, Four, Thirteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen,
Eighteen, Nineteen, Twenty-Six, Thirty, Thirty-One, Thirty-Two,
Sixty-Four, and Sixty-Nine took part at one time or another. The
effectiveness of their service gained for them a place in the
headlines of the Intransigeant, the popular evening newspaper
of Paris, where in referring to the progress of the battle it
was stated: "Et surtout les ambulances américaines
ont marché à merveille."

STEPHEN GALATTI*

*Served continuously in France from September, 1915, until
May, 1919; member of Section Three in 1915; Assistant Head of
the American Field Service from January, 1916; Commissioned Captain
in the U.S.A. Ambulance Service in October, 1917, and later promoted
to Major.